Tv Coverage Of Super Bowl Provides Excuse For A Party Cowboys, Bills Rooters Sport Lack Of Ill Will

January 31, 1994|by MARGIE PETERSON, The Morning Call

Daybreak Director Marlene Merz took kind of a Zen approach to football at the drop-in center's Super Bowl party at Alliance Hall in Allentown.

"I've been rooting for the band the whole time," Merz said.

But she was alone in championing the half-time entertainment at the party, which included 32 Daybreak members and guests, several employees, two guinea pigs and a tank of tropical fish.

Mostly it was Buffalo Bills fans or at least people who hated the Dallas Cowboys hooting and hollering at the television while they sipped sodas and munched donuts.

"I want to see the team that hasn't won it yet," said Dennis Stoudt, who along with his wife Linda rooted for the Bills. "This year Buffalo is hungry."

Then there was Willie Davis.

With Dallas down by a touchdown at halftime, Davis, who had picked the Cowboys by 10 points, was already counting his losses.

"I'm going to have to go to Atlantic City to make up for my loss," Davis said. "Visit brother Trump."

Minutes later, after a Cowboy recovered a fumble and ran for a touchdown in the third quarter, Davis was back among the Dallas faithful.

"Told you we have a second half," he said, as the Buffalo crowd groaned. "You didn't believe me. Now you believe me."

And there was no joy in Mudville after Dallas scored again to take the lead.

"You can hear a pin drop in here now," Davis said.

At Rookies The All-American Sports Pub in Allentown, what Dallas fans lacked in numbers, they made up for in rowdiness.

"We have Dallas shooters and Buffalo shooters and most people are buying Buffalo shooters," said Pam Camp, hostess. "The Cowboys fans are definitely more obnoxious. We Buffalo fans, we just sit back."

The Rookies crowd sentiment might have been as much anti-Dallas as pro-Buffalo.

"Either they hate Dallas or they hate Dallas fans," said Camp.

That may also have been true in Stahley's Cellarette on the east side of Allentown, where you didn't see much Buffalo memorabilia.

"There are a lot of Eagles fans here who just hate the Cowboys," said bartender Paul Sincavage. Dressed in a Cowboys jersey and sweat pants, Sincavage made no secret of his own allegiance. Despite that, the Buffalo crowd didn't give him too much abuse.

"They want their beers, they know better," he said.

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Twenty-eight years and a lifetime of Super Bowl hype ago, Allentown attorney Irving Coleman and three friends flew out to the first AFL-NFL championship game, which was in Los Angeles. Not yet dubbed the Super Bowl, it featured Len Dawson quarterbacking the Kansas City Chiefs and Bart Starr for the Green Bay Packers.

"That first game was very exciting," said the 82-year-old Coleman. "In the first half Kansas City was way ahead of Green Bay, but Green Bay came back in the second half."

Coleman and the same group of friends -- businessman George Schisler of Northampton, Gilbert E. Castree of Allentown who owned Quality Service Oil Co. in Northampton, and Richard Miller, a prominent Allentown School Board member -- went to other Super Bowl games, including the one that matched the Baltimore Colts' Johnny Unitas against a young quarterback for the New York Jets named Joe Namath.

Coleman said he is the only member of the original group of friends still alive.

He still watches the Super Bowl on television, but he prefers the college game as played by his University of Michigan Wolverines.

"Professional football is a tremendous game, no question," Coleman said. "But like many things in America, it has become a big, big business. You have defense coordinators and offense coordinators, you have coaches on the sidelines with headsets, you have coaches in the stand.

"The game today ... has become more vicious," said Coleman. "How do you account for five or six quarterbacks being put out of commission?"